Personal and family background

Kinnan was born to David V. Kinnan and Hazel Hamer. He met his wife, the former Marjorie G. Ahrendt at North High School in Columbus, OH where they both attended. He has two sons, David E. Kinnan, Esq. and Timothy A. Kinnan. Both of his sons followed in his footsteps and joined the US Air Force. David was an Air Force JAG Officer and Tim went on to have a full military career. Wally was a trumpet player with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and Charlie Barnet during his undergraduate years at Ohio State out of love for music and as a way to help pay for school.

Service career

Kinnan enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on March 31, 1942 at Fort Hayes, Columbus, OH for service during WWII. He began flight training in September 1942. Kinnan was commissioned a Second Lieutenant upon graduation from the Pilot training on April 12, 1943. While in casual status at Luke Air Base he broke the fighter gunnery record. He was initially trained to be a fighter pilot, however, the Air Corps needed bomber pilots and Kinnan, like many others, were reassigned to bombers. From there he went on to bomber transition and deployed to Europe as a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber Pilot. Kinnan participated in the air offensives over Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe.

World War II Combat Pilot, Plane Shot Down

Kinnan's aircraft was shot down over Eygalières, Vichy France on August 17, 1943. He sustained shrapnel injuries which were compounded when he bailed out too close to the ground and made hard impact. His injuries prevented him from evading and he was captured. He was first taken to a Hospital in Arles to heal and then transferred to Stalag Luft III in Sagan, now Żagań in Poland.

Heroic Bailout of B-17 fighter plane

Kinnan’s recount of his bail-out of his bomber aircraft was harrowing even in the telling. After taking fire that damaged the aircraft, alighting the #4 engine and wounding the other pilot; the crew immediately began bail-out procedures. Wally, the only pilot at the yoke, maintained as much control of the aircraft as possible to ensure that his crew members were all safely out. Once they were out he put the aircraft into as stable a configuration that he could to maintain altitude and attitude. But the badly damaged aircraft, on fire, lost the right wing and continued to descend. In order to bail-out, Kinnan had to make his way to the nose hatch. However, the erratic flight of the damaged B-17 required him to crawl and pull himself along.

As Kinnan was crawling, his parachute caught on some part of the aircraft which left Wally in frantic state trying to unbind himself and his parachute from the rapidly descending aircraft. During this process he had unbuckled his parachute and was never able to put it back on properly. Finally able to free himself he launched himself from the airplane, up and out the normally facing downward hatch and pulled his parachute's ripcord.

Kinnan and M/Sgt Henry Petroski were the last two to exit, falling amidst the burning debris of their aircraft. Because he had not been able to properly restrap the parachute on, when it opened it twisted him up causing a severe back injury. This, plus the wounds he had sustained from the flak bursts while still in the aircraft made it impossible for him to evade capture once he was on the ground.

Taken Prisoner of War

Kinnan strongly credits his German captors in France with great humanity and care of his injuries. However, after just only over a week in France they transferred him to another hospital that was part of Dulag Luft near Frankfurt, where his treatment was much more stern. Once processed he was transferred to Stalag Luft III in mid-September 1943. The reality of the situation in the Stalag system was even more dire and cruel to where life often hinged on not having enough to eat.

Sagan Serenaders

Near the end of 1943, there were many new prisoners coming into the camp. Kinnan, who may have been almost a real-life Hogan’s Hero, persuaded the German captors to find some decent musical instruments so they could put on some organized musical programs. Kinnan and a group of Who’s Who’s of music that were all interred in German Camps founded a band called the Sagan Serenaders. Kinnan (and Pilot Officer Leonard Whiteley of the British Royal Air Force) organized and led the group.

The Serenaders received donated musical instruments from aid organizations and whatsoever the German captors could scrounge up. One instrument was an unusual trombone that Wally described as a plumber's nightmare. They 'sacrificed' this instrument so that other POW's could turn it into a still.

The Serenaders had four trumpets (one was one), two trombones, five saxophones, and four rhythm instruments. Wally Kinnan once said, "We were beginning to talk seriously about taking the band on tour in the U.S. when and if we could manage to survive the war."

The 1963 motion picture The Great Escape, which greatly depicts some of the Serenders and Kinnan's experiences, showed a choir singing while the escape started but in actuality, it was the Serenaders. The Serenaders contributed to the effort regularly by practicing their instruments to mask the sound of digging.

"The Great Escape" depicted, Kinnan's Release from Captors

Towards the end of the war the Russians were nearing Stalag Luft III so the Germans forced marched the POW's to Stalag Luft VII A.

Kinnan's youngest son, Timothy, who is a Lt. General in the Air Force, has pointed out that his father (Kinnan), through encoded letters to his mother (Kinnan's wife Marjorie), had informed the United States War Department (now the Department of Defense) that fifty of the escapees were recaptured by the Germans and were shot by firing squad. The letters was decoded by the U.S. government and then sent on to Kinnan's wife.

Early in 1945, the Soviets were approaching the camp. The Germans marched 12,000 prisoners, including the band members, straight out of the camp. Wally thought they would be marched into a field and executed. However, they were led on a forced march instead, through a blizzard to Spremberg almost 200 miles away. Many of the POWs died during the trek. Pianist Bunch, said Kinnan had saved his life by sharing a potato. Food was very scarce.

After the arrival of General Patton’s Third Army at Stalag Luft VII A, on April 29, 1945, Kinnan, along with his other very grateful companions were finally freed. Keenan would then spend his processing time at Camp Lucky Strike before being sent statside. Official records have initial capture date as August 17, 1943 with official repatriation to the United States as of June 30, 1945.

Post War Accomplishments

After being repatriated, Kinnan attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and received his degree in Meteorology. Still in the Air Force as Weather Officer he performed his duties in the newly formed United States Air Force.

During the Korean Conflict, Kinnan served in the Pacific Theatre region. His other assignments included weather service on the Kwajalein Atoll, Guam and Hawaii. He was a pioneer of the Severe Storm Center of the Air Weather Service. Deciding a career in Broadcast Meteorology was an exciting field he resigned his commission from the US Air Force to become one of the earliest broadcast meteorologists.

Meteorology

Kinnan, who was affably nicknamed "The Weatherman", was a well-known personality in Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Tampa. Kinnan worked at WKYC-TV in Cleveland, OH and later, from 1978-1980, at WTSP-TV in Tampa, FL.